from the starting gates this planting season, >> today, on u.s. farm report, farmers jump from the starting gate this planting season but cold weather could make it a rough start. the hard-pressed dairy industry gets help from the government. and the unexpected market leader, soybeans. >> u.s. farm report is brought to you by the enlist wheat control system and by the 2012 chevy silverado. >> hello, and welcome to u.s. farm report. i'm john phipps.

after historic march weather, the expectation to the major planting season has sputtered to a fitful start, as dry weather frustrates farmers' plans. at the same time, the return to normal april weather seems like a return to winter. all this anxiety i think stems from the deep conviction that the 2012 crop really matters. the realization that burdensome surpluses of the past has gone is finally sinking in. now for the headlines. >> reporter: a remarkably mild spring has planters rolling. about 3% of the nation's corn crop is already in the ground. planters are rolling in a

number of states. the five-year average shows planting is typically not underway at this time. five percent of the crop is planted in illinois and two percent in michigan. tennessee and missouri are ahead of pace. also from the field, the the condition of the winter wheat crop continuing to improve. more than 20 points ahead of where it was years ago. china's back in the market for u.s. corn. reports indicate that the chinese placed an order for 120,000 tons to be shipped by the end of august. that brings their total to nearly 4 million tons, right in line with the usda's forecast and the highest total in nearly two decades. for the first time since april of 2010, the ag department announces it will be making a

milk income loss contract payment. based on current future prices, insiders estimate payments will be made now through sent. to be eligible, producers must sign up on or before the 14th of the preceding month. the march payment is estimated at 59 cents. it bumps up in april, then back down to 59 cents in may. those are the headlines. now back to john for crop watch. >> crop watch is brought to you by sfp, putting revolutionary technology into the field. >> in minnesota, a grower can't believe what an early spring it's been. his work kicked off on march

28, the earliest since he began keeping records in 1968. and in polk county, oregon, a grower says wheat is growing slowly and it's hard to get fertilizer down. in iowa, a grower reports that next to no corn has been planted in the southwest part of the state as of the end of march. he expects planting to begin in earnest the week of april 9, the weather pending, of course. up next, it's time to talk the market. we're back in just two minutes. please stay with us.

>> this portion of u.s. farm report is brought to you by...

>> we have tim, top third ag marketing. we have mike hogan. and gentlemen, we had a report last week. before we get into the report coming up next tuesday, can you tell me what happened in the four-day markets that we had after the last report? who would like to give me a summary? >> i can start off with that, al. when you look at the report, we had some follow-through earlier this week, especially on the old crop corn and certainly beans took off. we're having a flattening-off period at this time. when you look ahead to the report that's coming up, i think it's going to be, does the usda kind of carry up those numbers? we've noticed that the reports have been somewhat going back and forth between the bull and the bear news, so the consistency is certainly a question as we move forward with this. >> the report coming up on

tuesday, jim? >> it will be world supply and demand. there's an estimate that the usda, for the last brazilian number was... a lot of analysts have it between 45 and 46 metric tons, a dramatic drop from our estimates before. that's a little bit under 2.5 billion bushel of beans. they're also looking for the drop, the argentina crop may be down maybe a million metric tons. almost every week there's some groups lowering the south american production numbers. and then also, this very decreased south american

soybean production numbers is what's driving the market. the acres numbers that we got last week in soybeans, a lot of analysts think that's going to end up being too low, as we've had a dramatic rally since then in beans, encouraging producers to switch some makers, if they intended for corn, back into beans. we're also going to see probably a big increase in double-crop beans, particularly if the wheat harvest comes off early. the issue with double-crop beans is you never know what the yield is going to be. it's going to be dependent on the weather. but that could dramatically change these bean prices. >> the beans have been kind of driving the market, and old crop corn. there's just not a whole lot of old crop corn. the price apparently is not high enough to get them out of the bins, right? >> that's absolutely correct. farmers have been stingy, especially after the news came

out of last week's report. we'll be looking for this week's upcoming report. one of the things too to pay attention to in beans, the managed money is record long. they've done that in record time. so it was only just a few months ago that they were working towards an almost even- up type position. you know, i think the question is, even if the bad news keeps coming, who is going to be left to by, after a while? >> the bottom line, outside money, at this point in time? that could be a problem if the outside money turns around and we're still looking at what's happening over in europe to find out whether or not we're going to satisfy that money? >> right. that could end up being an issue, with this record-long position in soybeans by the commodity investment funds, that when they decide to exit a market, they were close to a record-long position last september 1, and when they exited that market, in an month, because of the european

financial issues, beans dropped $3 a bushel, very quickly. that's very concerning. producers may want to think about locking in some good prices for new-crop beans at this level. they've had a huge rally to sell into. with acres possibly going back into soybean production in this country, and south america is the analyst and brazil are already talking about record acres planted next fall there. producers might look at possibly switching intended acres into beans and locking in these good prices. >> you mentioned there's probably going to be a lots of double-crop beans after wheat. i heard earlier perhaps some of the spring was going to be planting beans also. whenever we start talking about spring wheat going into soybeans... >> i think we've also seen, along with the rally in beans,

you -- i think that's still a debatable issue, al. >> hold that comment on wheat. we'll be back in an moment.

>> round table, jim and mike. we were talking a little bit about -- we started talking about wheat, then we got back to talking about beans again. you were talking about, people are going to plant beans because apparently they'll make more money. >> because of the huge rally in soybeans, it's been $3 a bushel in new crop beans since the middle of december, and especially this past week, when we had almost, after the usda

acres numbers, $1 rally in new crop beans. there's a lot of producers saying, you know, i'm going to switch back into beans. when they can sell beans off the combine for over $13 a bushel, in some areas, $13.50, they're realizing that, with the uncertainty about where corn might end up, we have to remember, we're going to have record acres of corn. if we have trendline yields or even better with these new hybrids, which haven't had the kind of weather to get the yield up, we could have a very good corn crop. two years ago, corn traded down to $3.50 a bushel. it's a great way for producers to do some risk management. plant more beans, lock them in at this level, and hope they're wrong. >> how can we translate that into what's happening to the wheat crop? now they're saying, i hope it

doesn't freeze. >> yeah. i think that's an excellent point. as we saw within the local area here, we dipped below that 32- degree mark. theation there's going to be natural questions that come up. we'll get an update on some of those numbers again this upcoming tuesday with it. when you look overall, i think the debate that jim was talking about, when we move that up north, to minnesota, on what they're going to do with the bean acres versus spring wheat, spring wheat has also gone on for a bit of a rally. >> and with the high price of corn, wheat has been coming in as feed in some cases too. we'll find out on tuesday whether or not we're going to have more or less wheat. what do you think? >> to me, i think we'll probably end up seeing probably exactly what last week's wheat acres report talked about as

well on that, so i think it's just going to be the same. i think it will just come out as a wash. >> general economy, where are we? here we are, and this is good friday, this is easter weekend. and there was an -- an employment report came out not as positive as the government would like to have. >> i think there's a couple things to look at especially over the last week. we did have the release of the fed minutes that came up this past week. one of the things is noted was the quantitative using the money that's going on. it really helped to pump up commodity prices. it looks like that's probably coming to an end. folks will look at today's job report and say, hey, we had a miss. that's going to put it back on the table. i would probably say not so fast, my friend, at that point. we have very smart people within the fed. there's likely to be, not soon

but upcoming, another recession that will likely take place in the 2013 end of year, maybe 2015. they need some more bullets in the gun to kind of tame that. that could change what the dollar has been doing as of late, which has been downward pressure. we've seen some upticks in it. >> what do you say, jim? >> one concern too is, remember last september when the europeans started having the serious issues over greece? europe is facing those same kind of issues with portugal and spain. then they have to deal with italy. you can see on the news issues with spain, they're having to pay more for their bond issues, starting to have to pay worker strikes. that could create pressure, particularly when you have commodities like crude oil that have record-long speculative positions and soybeans now that

have record-long speculative conditions. if those funds start pulling out of those markets because of european economic turmoil, that could put some downward pressure on the commodity prices, especially soybeans and possibly crude oil. >> thank you there's been a whole lot of talk lately about internet speeds...

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>> meteorologist mike hoffman joins us now. mike, the planters are lined up, but there's no moisture there to plant. now we're talking cold? >> yeah. it does look cold, for at least -- several shots of cold. it's just starting to show up on the drought monitor. >> because it's dry. >> yeah. the topsoil is very dry in a lot of illinois, indiana, kentucky. but the drought monitor is just starting to show that up. as we head through time, we're going to see hopefully some moisture getting back into that area. the true drought areas, the far

southeast, especially west texas. and then from northwestern iowa on up into minnesota. very dry conditions continue in those areas as well. let's check out the maps. we're going to see this cold shot of air coming into the great lakes and northeast as we head into the early part of next week. that trough kind of lingers. and then it brings a warm-up, at least temporarily, for the great lakes and the northern portions of the plains. but a strong trough coming in out west. now, what we hope for is as these troughs progress eastward, they pick up a lot of gulf moisture and we start to get rain out of these systems instead of just dry canadian air. that's what we'll hope for, because it's definitely turning into a fairly active weather pattern with those big troughs showing up on the jet stream. there's the map for monday. you can see an cold front all the way down into southeast

georgia. a little area of low pressure in the four corner region. we'll have spotty areas of showers and thunderstorms down toward texas. a cold front may be causing sprinkles or flurries in the northern great lakes, believe it or not. and another system coming in out west. that one is moving through the inner mountain region. that's another cold blast of air. another cold front coming into the lower great lakes, bringing us another shot of chilly air into next week. as we head toward friday, what we're looking at is multiple systems coming eastward, so this is where we hope for some of that gulf moisture, as a slow-moving trough moves in. we'll see areas of low pressure moves in as well. so rain showers from minnesota all the way down to the gulf of mexico. then the next system coming in with a fair amount of mountain

snows but also valley rains in the western

>> to most everyone's surprise, there is some good news. one of the most optimistic signs is the resurgence in exports. suddenly more industries are benefiting from american global competitiveness. this may powerfully affect our economy. u.s. exports are booming because more of the world has income closer to ours and want to buy products that americans buy. we excel in that market. it is also occurring because technology around the world is replacing people with ever- smarter machines. suddenly, the cost of labor doesn't matter so much. but there's another side of the story. in his analysis, there will be

stark differences for workers in exporting industries and those producing for a stagnant domestic market. jobs like education, health and government may be able to maintain numbers in age growth. but otherwise, abundant well- paying jobs will not be a feature of this economy. the flow will largely be to those who produce and operate technology. farms are not immune. investments in farm machinery, land and improvements will continue to earn strong returns. operator labor will get a much smaller slice of the pie. hard work alone will not be a sustainable business model. let us know what you think. send e-mails to mailbag@usfarmreport.com or call and leave us a voice mail. coming up in our next half hour, texas teens team up to restore two classic tractors.

stay with us. the second half of u.s. farm report is coming right up. the jacksons are coming to them live in person... on us.

>> today on u.s. farm report, government oversight of the food industry increases in response to consumer concerns. domestic vegetable production is rising, which could mean good news in the produce section. and multiple production problems will keep honey supply down and prices high. u.s. farm report is brought to you by the enlist weed control system and by the 2012 chevy silverado... farm report, i'm john phipps. >> hello and welcome to u.s. farm report. i'm john phipps. there was mediocre news on the job market but clearly the economy is at least prodding in the right direction. nowhere is that news more

welcome than our protein industry. consumers slowed down meat and dairy purchases in response to pinched finances. not only have consumers developed slightly new shopping habits but the generational shift away from baby boomers like me raises new questions. we don't know much about succeeding generations, but if we want to market successfully in the future, we better start hanging out with them. tyne morgan is here with the headlines. >> new numbers show the fda is stepping up efforts to safeguard the nation's food supply. in 2011, the agency issued more food warnings. an estimated 48 million americans get sick and 3,000 are killed each year from food- borne illnesses. in addition, economists estimate the outbreaks cost the

the economy annually. veggie farmers will plant one million additional acres in 2012. a big part of the boost will come from potatoes. the big winner may be mushrooms. the market is now worth 1.25 billion and that total is expected to climb in the year ahead. an unwanted visitor is taking aim at california's citrus industry. the ag department has confirmed a case of citrus disease. now agents say greening has been found on a tree in a residential neighborhood. sales of citrus are being shut down in a five-mile radius. don't expect honey prices to dip any time soon. new figures show honey had a

16% dip from the year before. prices remain at record levels. americans have long loved carbonated beverages but demand for soda is on the downswing. soft drink consumption delined in 2011, hitting its lowest level in years. energy drinks are filling the gap with sales up 16%. other news this week, the ethanol industry is applauding the latest decision from the epa regarding e15 ethanol. it has been approved as a registered feulg. the new renewable fuelings association says e15 could start showing up in stations across the midwest as early as this summer. egg farmers are helping those in need. nearly 10 million eggs will be

donated to food banks in 40 different states. the association says a single egg delivers six grams of protein and 13 essential nutrients. that's it for news. mike hoffman joins us now with the national forecast. and we'll start the week with a little more active weather pattern. as far as the troughs and ridges are concerned, you can see a big dip in the jet stream. that's bringing in a cold shot of air. there's always the concern for frost or freezing conditions in parts of the great lakes or northeast as we head through the first part of the week. a little bit of snow also, as you can see, in the northern part of that. a lot of that stays in canada, but there is a chance in some of the northeastern great lakes areas. next trough is digging into the west and that's going to be moving slowly eastward as well, so things do progress eastward as we move through the week.

cold air is still lingering over the great lakes. the cool air goes all the way down to the southeastern parts of the country. next system causing a fair amount of rain and mountain snows in the western parts of the country as we head through the middle of the week. now, by friday then, what we're going to see is still a strong trough out west but there's going to be little ripples coming eastward, so that first one picks up a fair amount of gulf moisture. this is what we're hopeful for to give you folks in the corn belt some much-needed moisture, all the way down into the southeast. still chilly and dry in the northeast. so we have multiple chances for rain coming from west to east across the corn belt as we head through the next two or three weeks. hopefully we'll start to replenish some of that ground moisture. next week, this will take us

from april 15 through the 21st, below-normal temperatures expected. into the northeast, near normal for the great lakes towards the southern portions of the country. above normal for the central plains westward into the four corner region. and then you can see below normal also in the pacific northwest. as far as precipitation next week, above normal for much of the middle of the country. again, that could be some good news as those areas of moisture continue to move eastward. as far as the 30-day outlook, looking for a large swath of above-normal for the central and southern plains. but the corners, probably below normal. the northwest and northeast, as far as precipitation, above normal expected for the middle mississippi valley into the great lakes. but unfortunately below normal for the brought areas of central and west texas and the southeast. but, again, we haven't been getting the moisture. >> but my best chance of rain next week is on friday the

13th. what's wrong with that? spirit of the heartland is next.

education can happen in a variety of ways - >> education can happen in a variety of ways, but for most of c'us, nothing works better than hands-on learning. in texas there's a group of high school students who are restoring history and at the same time, opening doors for the future. >> reporter: after-school

activities for a texas teenager might include facebook, but four high school students here are finding another use for their hands and times. these high schoolers are refurbishing antique tractors. herman smith and his wife have opened their workshop and tools up to the students, who are working several hours every day after school to make these machines like new once again. >> it's really something special. there are times when the kids have left and we'll sit down and talk about what we have done to help them in our little afternoon coffee. >> reporter: as school across the state cut budgets, communities like this are pulling together to support students. >> the community support is great. small towns really come together and support each other. >> reporter: at smith farms, the students aren't the only

ones receiving an education. >> it's been a learning process for us. it's a whole lot easier to just do it yourself, so we have to learn to back off and let them make the mistakes. you make good decisions by making a lot of bad decisions. >> reporter: steven horton is working on a 1947 john deere, while dustin is reforming a super c. these students are required to identify and reconstruct the tractors as they were coming off the assembly line. >> this is something i have an interest in. it's something you can use in the future also. >> reporter: carr and the other students are thankful for the resources they have at the smith farm, are where education covers more than just drive shafts. these two models were at one time the latest in agricultural technology. but according to smith and the

students, these two tractors still play a vital role. >> these old john deere tractors, they're a big part of american culture. >> reporter: the high school students hope to come away with the top-winning prize. with the texas farm bureau, i'm nathan smith. >> our thanks to the texas farm bureau for that report. we'll post a link to their website on our home page. next week, we're off to colorado as bird watchers gather for the annual invasion of sandhill cranes. that story next week. up next this weekend, story time with baxter black. we'll be right back.

>> this is baxter black. when i sell a critter, i'm supporting projects that keep consumers loving beef and volunteers, beef and dairy folks like you and me, decide how the dollars are spent. and they're good at it. each dollar so get to know your checkoff. welcome back.

>> baxter black, on u.s. farm report, is brought to you by your beef checkoff. to learn more about how beef and dairy producers like you invest the dollars and promote your product, visit mybeefcheckoff.com. >> we hope you're enjoying a relaxing easter weekend, a time many of us spend with friends and family. from baxter black's perspective, a good friend is priceless. >> i gotta phone call the other day. i was out, of course. but they left a message. it was from a high school friend who now lives in another state. we were partners in high school, him and me. in ffa together. we double-dated and kept our winstons under the dash of our '58 fords. we both quit smoking and riding

bulls and even double-dating. and though he is far away, we're still close. his voice on the answering machine made me smile. we've been a part of each other's lives as long as i can remember. i'm not sure how to describe this bond that we have, except simply "friends." well, friends is a word that i don't throw around. it's used and abused, but i still like the sound, and i save it for people who have done right by me and who i know i can count on if ever need be. some of my friends own limousines and visit with queens and some of my friends are up to their neck in overdue notes and can't write a check. their singers, writers of prose, and others, god bless them, can't blow their own nose. friends don't have nothing to do with talent or money or knowing who is who. it's a comfortable feeling when

you don't have to care about choosing your words or being quite fair, because friends will just listen and let go on by those words you don't mean and not bat an eye. it makes a friend happy to see your success. they're proud of your good side and forgive all the rest. and that ain't so easy all of the time. sometimes i get crazy and seem to go blind. your friend might just have to take you on home, remind you sometimes that you're not alone or ever so gently pull you back to the ground and when you think you can fly with no one around. a hug or a shake, whichever seems right, is the high point of giving. i'll tell you tonight, all the worldly riches and tributes of men can't hold a candle to the words of a friend. this is baxter black from "out there." >> baxter will join us again in

two weeks. until then, check out his work on line at backserblack.com. up next, a trip to the pacific northwest for tractor tales. plus our country church salute. we'll be right back.

al joins us now with tractor tales...what do you have for us this week? john, we're headed to washington state to check out a unique d-19. >> al joins us now with tractor tales. >> we're heading to washington state to check out a unique d19. the owner was more than happy to make it a part of his collection. >> i gotta 1969d19 turbo- diesel. it was the 39th to the last one off the assembly line out of wisconsin. i was on a chaumers discussion

forum and saw this guy out of minnesota who had the thing. i talked to him about a year ago about if he wants to sell the tractor. he didn't. i bugged him about three, four months ago and said, do you want to sell the tractor? i said name your price. and he did. it was not where i wanted to go, but i got it in my collection, so i was pretty excited about that. what's unique about it, it's a three-point. it's got the rear option, every option on it that the factory threw at it. i'm probably going to pull a little bit with it, kind of a parade tractor. if we have plowing days, something like that. i'm not going to work it that hard. i got it from a guy in the utah area. he bought it brand-new out of

ramona, california. it's a utah, minnesota, now back up in washington. it's going to stay here for quite some time. >> as always, you can find tractor tales on our home page. today's country church salute goes to a church in merritt island, florida. construction began in 1885 with lumber delivered from st. augustine. the first service here was held on thanksgiving day in 1886, meaning the church celebrated its 120th anniversary in 2011. the original 95-seat sanctuary still stands today and includes much of the original lumber and pews. the transformational life center was dedicated in 2007

and includes a worship center and classrooms. the current pastor is the reverend calhoun. as always, we want to learn about your church as well. salutes can be sent to the address on the screen. stay with us. the mailbag is next.

time now for our weekly look inside the farm >> time now for our weekly look inside the farm report mailbag. my reference to the pink slime controversy prompted this question from panel stone. i suddenly had a disquieting

thought. is there white slime in ground chicken and turkey? consider the power of language at work here. the beef industry is rightly irate about the blatantly derogatory term "pink slime." it is obviously pink and it looks slimy, although paste might be a more accurate description. lean, finely textured beef was not on labels or widely spoken about. but to answer your question, there is no white slime, but there is a similar mechanically separated product for poultry. it too is just as safe as whole meat. but the problem is not the name, despite the media bashing. it's about the disgust response hard-wired deep into our brains. the ammonia doesn't help either. adding security to processing

plants and expecting rational arguments to override this instinct are probably not going to work. two things need to change. first, consumers need to recognize the real trade-offs. if you want food fast, easy, tasty and cheap, don't be surprised when how it gets made is a lower priority. the meat industry needs to grow up too. the 21st century is not the time for your business plan to contain the phrase "nobody will ever find out." send comments to mailbag@usfarmreport.com or leaf us a voice mail at 1-800- 792-4329. i'm john phippes saying thank you for watching u.s. farm report. be sure to join us again next week. we'll be working to do even better. this neighborhood sure has changed in my lifetime.

you know there was a time when people like me couldn't live here because of their race or the color of their skin. i'll never forget how i felt being told i wasn't welcome in this neighborhood, that this apartment was for whites only. that got better over time, but some people still didn't get equal treatment when it came to finding a home. no, there's no apartment here for you . well i own this building now, the fair housing act made a difference for someone like me. it gives us the opportunity to live in communities of our choice, free from discrimination. the fair housing act makes it illegal to discriminate in the renting or selling of a home because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or disability.